Sunday, November 22, 2015

Dave DeWitt has been working with peppers for decades, is
the founder of Chile Pepper magazine, and has been dubbed “The Pope of
Peppers”. Jamie Lamson is the “Chile Goddess”, and the owner of
ChilePlants.com, which grows 500 varieties of hot and sweet peppers and ships
plants in spring and fresh chilies in September. This duo is uniquely suited to
write the definitive book on peppers.

The book covers the five main domesticated species of
peppers; Capsicum annuum has a number of subsets such as jalapenos, Europeans,
pimentos, wax, Asians, and bells so that section is subdivided. Did you know
that there are 27 different named cultivars of cayenne peppers alone? Each
entry has a color photograph, the cultivar name, where the pepper first came
into cultivation, the size of the plant and of the pod, the time to harvest,
and the heat level. Here’s the only problem I have with the book: they give the
heat levels by ‘mild, medium, hot,” etc instead of the Scoville units for the
peppers. There is a chart that tells what the range of Scoville units is for
each category, but still, ‘Medium’ covers 2500 to 10,000 Scoville units and
that’s a heck of a range. I’d prefer to see the actual SHU for each pepper.
Some entries also have comments about the pepper, such as uses in cuisine,
growing tips, etc.

I think it’s a great book; I get so confused looking over
huge sections of pepper seeds and wondering how they compare to each other.
This book will unravel a lot of that confusion.This would be a great reference for the chile head on your holiday gift giving list!

Friday, September 11, 2015

This book is a great one for learning the basics of wire
working. It has step by step photographs of each process, making learning the
bends and turns easy. The author shows how to make and use the basic findings:
jump rings, head pins, wrapped tops on large beads, clasps, earwires, loops, simple
charms, and how to crimp. Then she has eighteen projects: bracelets, necklaces,
earrings, and rings- rings aren’t something you find in very many jewelry
making books.

While the book doesn’t go into fancier things like making a
jig and creating extensively wrapped pieces, it can be the basis for a solid
foundation on wire working. You can’t do the fancy stuff without mastering the
basics. And being able to make your own findings can save you a lot of money
when you’re making jewelry!